Dual Cultivation: Beasts and Women!

Continuing on their way out of the city, the group passed the Officers' post at the base of Peak Five, where they had the men of the area making way for them with respectful stances, once again this situation peculiar to some of them.

Liam couldn't deny the fact that he liked the feeling of being respected by mere strangers who knew nothing more than his position in the sect. Being a Division Chief wasn't all he was. In fact, it revealed nothing of who he was. But it gave him an automatic respect that he had fought hard to achieve in City Thirteen and hadn't been able to experience for more than a few hours.

And yet, the look of fear and that of respect differed greatly.

The fearful disciples of City Thirteen seemed only to want to stay away from him and not risk becoming his next victims. The Officers he met on his way today seemed to respect him and wanted a chance to serve him.

There was also a pride in some of the men's eyes, a sense of wanting to achieve the same as him that was strangely pleasing to see.

That was one of the positives of having an influential position in the sect, and Liam couldn't help but appreciate it as he glanced discreetly over his shoulder at the group behind him.

'That's much better than being treated like someone to be eliminated.' He sighed at the thought of being halfway through their journey towards the dangerous plant, with his comrades monitoring their surroundings.

'But this interesting feature of my current status has its dark side,' Liam concluded dryly. 'Having a high status causes the weak to open the way for me and causes the strong to hesitate. That's good. But status also attracts unnecessary attention, greed, in short, invisible problems that I haven't had time to realize yet.

I still don't know which is better; being invisible and tripping over constant stones in my path, or being noticeable and having a clear path most of the time, but almost always with violent curves with surprises lurking.

But I'll have to decide what's best for me when I escape from the sect.'

His eyes narrowed as he thought about this.

'I'll certainly have to go into hiding at first. But if I can continue to improve my profession and strengthen myself alongside my women, I'll have the chance to change that.'

He imagined a life outside the Demon Gate, where no one but his women would know about his origins. At that time, he could keep his abilities hidden and live invisibly, or he could reveal them, using an alternative identity to protect himself from the sect, but without having to hide everything he was capable of.

'I'll see about that in the future. I still have a while to experience what it's like to have eyes turned in your direction.' He looked to the corners of the forest surrounding them, spotting small animals making tree leaves, low plants, and flowers sway.

They had already traveled a considerable distance from the exit of City Five, enough so that they no longer had a view of the city and noticed the more constant movement of creatures in the area.

Liam had already come close to the forested part of City Five and gradually saw scenery he already knew. But there he moved with his group without any major worries, being in a fairly powerful formation by the standards of the sect's forest area.

As was already known, the creatures in the headquarters forest were not controlled by the sect. They were left in the area with a certain range of power and, as they survived the competition with other beasts and the Spirit Masters' hunts, they could grow stronger.

Just because their group had mid-level Spirit Sky cultivators didn't mean that no creature in this forest would be unable to put them at risk. There could be creatures close to the fifth realm or even already within that cultivation realm in the forest.

But the chances of something like a Spirit King beast appearing in their path were almost zero. They moved on with the map of the area, not worrying too much about the creature territories in their path until they reached the first investigation point they had.

The people of City Five didn't know exactly where the plant behind the local crisis situation was. The first person infected wasn't necessarily the first to bring the parasitic fungus into the city. It could be the case that this individual was patient zero, but patient zero could have become infected in the forest and died after passing the fungus on to other people. Because of this, they had to confirm the suspected locations until they found the plant they were looking for.

When they arrived near the first checkpoint, Liam and his two First Officers moved away from the trio of specialists, giving them the chance to look for traces indicative of their target.

The two First Officers took up observation positions, keeping an eye out for creatures or other members of the sect who might show up and cause trouble.

Jane opened her arms and closed her eyes, feeling one of her Spirits reveal itself, while absorbing the elements, mana, and air through the leaves of her special magical creature.

Her colleagues glanced pointedly in her direction, seeing why their leader had chosen a young woman recently promoted to the third realm to join such a complicated mission.

As well as being a Herbalist, Jane had Spirits connected to her profession and was a great talent.

These people from the inner area didn't know how young she was, given the girl's uniform. If they were able to see her childish face, they would understand better.

But seeing Jane's power was enough for the group's Alchemist and Healer to give her a vote of confidence in this mission.

They didn't invest too much of their time in Jane, however. They used their own sensory abilities to understand the surrounding space, gradually advancing through the terrain, clearing parts of that area, while checking others, without letting the rest of the group advance carelessly.

The fact that the plant behind the fungus caused damage without even having to fight didn't mean that this mission would be solved without a fight.

Such a plant could have become sentient and, when surrounded, it could become defensive, making things difficult for them.

Liam walked carefully as he searched the area too, already aware of some of the signs indicated by the three experts in areas they should deliberate.

'If I had the characters, I could simply create a rune matrix capable of identifying the signs we're looking for...' Liam sighed as he thought about his disabilities while searching the area.

He had the idea behind a code for such a device, but he lacked the language, which, as an individual who had merely learned to form Third Class incantations, he couldn't do with what little he knew.

For that, he would have to have control over the combination of characters that only an advanced Fourth Class Runemaster would have!

"There's nothing in that area. Let's move on to the next one," said the group's Healer when they had thoroughly checked this suspicious location.

The group agreed as a whole. They moved on, gradually seeing the brightness of the day diminish as the hours passed, with mid-afternoon losing its warmth to welcome today's chilly evening.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

As night approached, the group eliminated another two of the six most suspicious locations for them to find their target. But that didn't mean they were getting any closer to the enemy. The plant behind City Five's calamity could be in another area besides the three they had left to investigate!

With night falling and the light decreasing, the group lost some of its speed and vigor.

They needed to stop to eat and rest, having already been working for hours without a break longer than a few minutes.

Liam decided to stop by a small stream in the hilly forest area of the headquarters, where the group quickly set up a small fire, rest, and surveillance shifts and three tents.

Liam was one of the first to have a chance to meditate a little, an activity he always did to recover his strength after combat, training and absorbing Arcane Crystals.

Amid this, the experts of the group chatted quietly in this area of woods and larger rocks, feeling the native sounds of the forests at night.

Toby took up the post of first lookout, keeping an eye on the area while standing on a rock higher than the group's position, from where his eyes had the best angle of view of this camping ground.

But even the strong and careful Toby wouldn't be able to see every angle of this area, especially in the dark of night.

A few hundred meters away, sharp eyes were turned toward the group's temporary camp, while the body behind those eyes was blending in with the darkness of the surroundings.

But something in the hands of this individual was shining, reflecting the night light in a well-polished, razor-sharp blade.

'You will die here, Liam Porter!'